Wedding Registry Advice From Real Couples

Their wedding is a lovely but fading memory. Their gifts have been opened, and thank-you notes have been sent. So now, as they look back, what do these recently married couples think they did right—and wrong—when they put together their wedding registries?

Allison & Mark

4 Registries

88 Guests

100 Gifts

"Our family is scattered across the country, so we registered at a range of places to make it easier for guests who don't shop online to find a store nearby," says Allison, a 34-year-old designer. She and 31-year-old husband Mark, also a designer, chose national stores like Macy's, Williams-Sonoma, and Crate&Barrel for many things, but selected speciality shop Heath Ceramics for their everyday dishes and glasses. "Each piece is hand-crafted," says Allison. "So every time we opened a gift from there it felt special and personal." Like their Heath dinnerware, the colorful Le Creuset cookware they chose is "timeless and feels like it will last forever."

For their fine china and crystal, Allison and Mark picked pieces by Marc Jacobs for Waterford, from Macy's. "I'm worried we'll never use it since we didn't get an even number of everything," says Allison. "We'll have to buy the pieces to complete it."

But some items have turned out to be more practical than the couple initially thought. "Months later I'm finding myself glad that we registered for decorative pieces like vases and platters," Allison says. "We use them all the time and it's a nice daily reminder of our wedding." Less useful have been some task-specific kitchen electrics. "We should have left off gadgety items like a juicer and panini press," she says.